Machine for removing down or pullings from fur or pelts.



Patented Aug. 6, [90L- 0. BONNER. MACHINE FOR BEMOVINGDOWN-UR PULLI NGS FROM FUBS 0B PELTS.

(Application filed Apr. 6, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

CARL DONNER, OF FRANKFO RT-ON-THE-MAIN, GERMANY.

MACHINE FOR REMOVING DOWN 0R PULLINGS FROM FUR 0R PELTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 679,835, dated August 6, 1901.

Application filed April 6, 1901.

To 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL DONNER, a sub ject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Durerstrasse 13, Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Removing Down or Pullings from Fur or Pelts, (for which I have applied for Letters Patent in Germany, application H. 20,704 IV/2S dated October 8, 1900; in England, application for Provisional Patent No. 18,276, dated October 13, 1900 in France, application No. 292,967, dated October 17, 1900; in Belgium, application No. 120,905, dated October 22, 1900, and in Italy, application No. 912, dated October 22, 1900,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for removing down or pullings,from pelts; and the machine constituting the subjectmatter of my invention is particularly adapted for removing pullings from coney and like pelts before the pelts have been dyed or otherwise treated.

The object of my invention is to provide a machine for doing mechanically what heretofore could only be successfully and efficiently accomplished by hand. I

To these ends my invention consists in the novel arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of one form of machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are diagrammatic views of portions of the structure to be hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a piece of coneypelt, the view showing a portion of the pelt in its natural state with the pullings in place and another portion of the pelt with the pullings removed. Fig. 7 is-an enlarged detail diagrammatic side view of several individual hairs of a coney or like pelt projecting from the skin. Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic vertical sectional View of a portion of the machine,

showing the manner in which the pullings are removed.-

In order that a thorough understanding of the present invention may he arrived at, I

consider it desirable to briefly describe the manner heretofore employed of removing Serial No. 54,573- (No model.)

pullin gs from coney and like pelts. The A-us-' tralian, French, and, in fact, all coney-pelts have peculiar characteristics. Each of the individual body-hairs of the pelt is composed of two portions, which are distinctly different in their physical characteristics. That portion of the hair which is next to the skin 1 and which is known'as fur or groundhair is indicated at 2 in Figs. 6, 7, and 8 of the drawings. This fur is soft and velvety and extends to a considerable distance from the skin and terminates at 3, where each socalled ground-hair joins another portion, that is indicated at 4 and is known as hair or pullings. These pullings 4 are when compared with the fur 2 stiff and coarse, and

presenting, as they do, the outer surface of the pelt constitute an undesirable element thereof, which detracts from its value.

Heretofore it has been customary to remove the pullings by running a pelt through a machine provided with a plurality of rotating knives. These knives were brought into contact with the haired surface of the pelt and cut the pullings off. In practice, however, it was found that in order to assure the removal of all the pnllings from the pelt it Was necessary to cut to a considerable depth into and to remove aportion of the fur, thereby reducing the value of the pelt. This disadvantage was so great that it was found desirable and necessary in order to produce a better finished product to employ hand labor. In removing the pullings by hand the operator employs a small knife and cuts the pullings from the for as near as possible on theplane 3, where the fur 2 joins the hair 4. This last method is an expensive, unsatisfactory, and tiresome one, inasmuch as the operator can cut and remove but a few pullings at a time and must continue in this manner until the entire pelt has been finished. By my present invention I overcome all of the disadvantages heretofore encountered and provide a simple machine which will readily and eificiently remove the pullings from the fur where the two are joined, and without injuring the fur.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts in the various views, a indicates a frame, which may support a suitable box or housing I). This housing communicates with a suitable suction'or exhaust apparatus 0, by means of which the pullings are collected and discharged through a suitable channel or pipe d. Contained within the housing I) is a roller 0-, that is corrugated longitudinally throughout its length, so as to present a series of rounded-ribs f. This roller is made of rubber or other suitable elastic material and is positively driven by suitable means. In the present instance I have shown a pulley g connected to the shaft h of said roller, and this pulley is operatively connected by the belt 71 to the drivingpulley j, carried by the main shaft 7.3. This main driving-shaft may likewise be provided with a pulley Z, over which the belt m passes in order to drive the pulley n of'the exhaust or suction apparatus 0. Cooperating with the roller e is a second elastic roller 0, which preferably has a smooth periphery and is mounted to r otate freely in its bearings. This roller 0 is preferably of much smaller diameter than the roller 6 and is that a compressing action is exerted between the ribf' and the roller 0 when the former is rotated in the direction of the arrow in Fig.

1. The roller 0 is mounted in bearings in a plate or support 19, which is adjustably secured in place by suitable means, as indicated at q. By reason of this adjustment of the support for the roller 0 the roller 0 can be moved toward and away from the roller 6, so that a greater or less compression may be exerted between these rollers in the rotation of the roller e. The adjustment is not radial wiih reference to the roller 6 and can therefore be made with greater accuracy. In order to bring the pelt-s to the cooperating-rollers e 0, the housing bis apertured throughout the lengths of these rollers, as indicated at r, and the frames is pivoted at tto the framing of the machine and is provided at its upper end with a bar or guide u, upon which the pelts are adapted to be supported. The movement of the frame 8 toward the bight of the rollers will carry the belt to a position where the pullings 4 thereon may be caught between the rollers,

-as indicated diagrammatically in' Fig. 8 of the drawings. When the pullings 4 are caught between the rollers e and 0, they are first engaged as indicated in Fig. 3 and then compressed with sutlicient force to tear or separate them from the fur 2, as indicated in Fig.

4. The pullings will be collected in the housing b and conveyed by the suction device through the delivery-tube d to a suitable receptacle. It will be observed that as the pelt is fed along the pullings are progressively torn from the fur and the soft-fur will be exposed, as indicated at the right-hand portion of Fig. 6 of the drawings.

The pullings, which constitute a valuable by-product, are removed from the pelt and may, with the aid of my machine, be collected and conveyed mechanically to a suitable receptacle. "It may be found necessary to feed the pelt throughout its entirelength several times over the guide a in front of the rollers in order to remove all of the pullings from the fur.

Confusion should not exist as to the function and purpose of my machine. 'Machines have been previously devised for entirely removing or pulling bodily so-called Waterhairs from the skin. Water-hairs do not possess the same physical characteristics as what I have designated as the body-hairs of the pelt and which I have attempted to illustrate in the accompanying drawings. These machines for removing waterhairs have nothing in common with my invention and are intended to operate upon the pelt after the pullings have been removed by one of the processes hereinbefore described and after the pelt has been dyed. mounted and maintained in such position vparallel to that'of the first-named roller, said second roller being adjustable in a direction at an angle to a radial line connecting the centers of the two rollers, longitudinal bodily elastic ribs or corrugations on the second roller, and means for holding a pelt adjacent to the bight of the two rollers.

2. The combinationof two rollers, one having a smooth elastic surface and the other rounded longitudinal elastic ribs or corrugations, one of the rollers being adjustable in a direction at an angle to a radial line connecting the centers of the two rollers, and means for holding a pelt adjacent to the bight of the two rollers. i

3. The combination of two rollers of materially-different sizes, one of them having a substantially cylindrical elastic surface and the other longitudinal bodily elastic ribs or no corrugations, one of the rollers being adj ustable in a direction at an angle to a radial line connecting the centers of the two rollers, and means for holding a pelt adjacent to the bi ght of the two rollers.

4. The combination of two rollers one having longitudinal elastic ribs or corrugations and the other a substantially cylindrical elastic surface, the latter roller being adjustable in a direction at an angle to a radial line con- 12o meeting the centers of the two rollers.

CARL DONNER. 

